Columbia Pictures has hired Shane Black (who made his directing debut with 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) to write and direct Doc Savage. Black is directing from a screenplay he is writing with Anthony Bagarozzia and Chuck Mondry. Neal Moritz will produce.

“Doc Savage is an icon, a character with limitless possibilities,” said Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach of the character, who is by turns a scientist, physician, adventurer, inventor, explorer and researcher. “We have had a great experience working with Neal to bring another classic character of the era, the Green Hornet, to a new generation of fans, and we think he and Shane make the ideal team to bring Doc Savage back to the bigscreen.”

Sony Pictures has hired Shane Black to write, and possibly direct, the upcoming adaptation of Doc Savage. The producing team will be Neil Moritz and Ori Marmur, although an original report by AICN (later corrected in a follow-up post) incorrectly identified Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as the producing team.

Never-the-less, about the only detail we know about the project is that — to the delight of many I’m sure — the character will remain in the 30’s and not be modernized.